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Coal Ridge teachers find iPad minis increase classroom interaction

Technology program expands to all middle schools in fall

By Victoria A.F. Camron

Times-Call staff writer

Posted:
04/20/2014 08:17:28 PM MDT

Updated:
04/20/2014 08:22:21 PM MDT

Coal Ridge Middle School social studies teacher Adam Wellington on Wednesday helps seventh-grader Larissa Roberts with a lesson on public and private goods. All Coal Ridge students and teachers have iPad minis as they pilot the St. Vrain Valley School District's learning technology plan. (Lewis Geyer / Longmont Times-Call)

She creates the test on a Google form, and her students use the iPad minis they all received at the end of January to take the quiz. Stephens can give the students feedback within five minutes, she said, and review problems areas immediately, instead of the next day or later.

"I can get data much more quickly and use it to direct instruction," Stephens said Wednesday.

In his seventh-grade social studies classroom at Coal Ridge, Adam Wellington asks students to explain what they think private goods are. Instead of calling on different students, though, all the students write their answers on their iPad minis. Wellington can then see the answers and share some without revealing the students' names.

Timeline

As part of the St. Vrain Valley School District's learning technology plan, iPad minis will be distributed to all schools and most students on the following schedule:

2014: Coal Ridge and Westview middle school students pilot the program; all middle school teachers receive iPad minis

2014-15: All middle school students and all students at Lyons Middle/Senior High; all preschool and kindergarten teachers; teachers at Frederick, Longmont, Mead and Silver Creek high schools

He then showed the students a graphic illustrating, by breaking up a dollar bill into 13 pieces, how the federal government spent 2012 income taxes. Because each student's iPad mini displayed the information, each student could zoom in to get a close look.

Students and teachers at Coal Ridge and Westview middle schools are the first to experience classes under the St. Vrain Valley School District's learning technology plan. Funded through the 2012 mill levy override, the plan allocates $2.2 million annually for all students in sixth through 12th grades to have their own iPads minis by the 2016-17 school year. For preschool through fifth-grade students, each classroom will receive its own set of the electronic tablets in 2017-18.

That plan is deliberate and sustainable, said Joe McBreen, the district's chief information officer. Because the iPad minis won't be distributed at the same time — 25 percent of the district gets the new technology every year — they won't begin to fail at the same time, he said.

"The downside of that is, you have to make hard choices," McBreen said. A committee of 33 district employees, including teachers and principals, chose to pilot the program at the two middle schools and decided the timeline for expanding the program, he said.

The years-long rollout will lead to some short-term inequities in the school district. This year's eighth-graders at Coal Ridge won't have iPad minis next year, when they are freshmen at Frederick High School, but will get them when they are sophomores. Trail Ridge Middle School eighth-graders won't have iPads until they are juniors at Skyline High School, though.

Students and parents are excited about the program, McBreen said.

"The thing that I'm most surprised by is, the students and parents were way more ready for this than I ever imagined. It's almost a relief that we're doing this, finally," he said.

Coal Ridge principal Brian Young said students are more involved in their classes than they were before they had the iPad minis.

"We see more students doing the work, participating in class," Young said.

"Students are communicating now with their peers, with their teachers and with myself now more than ever," he said.

Stephens created a blog to facilitate that communicating while fulfilling the language arts standard of having students study a subject in diverse formats. Her classes are studying Abby Sunderland, who was 16 when she tried to sail around the world by herself in 2010.

Through the blog, students can look at Sunderland's website, as well as stories from print and broadcast media. Stephens posts questions and discussion points for students to write about. The first student who responded — and made five comments — was a student who hadn't said five words in class all year, she said.

Shy students who share thoughtful responses often receive positive feedback from their peers, which can't help but increase those students' confidence, Stephens said.

The iPad minis also can be used to "flip" a classroom, something Stephens and Wellington have tried. In a flipped classroom, students start their learning on a new topic at home, with an assigned video or reading. Then, when they go to class, the teacher can answer questions and explore the topic more deeply.

Wellington has used the technique with units on ancient Rome, Greece and China.

"I find that (the students) come back to the room understanding it a little bit more than if I had given it to them," Wellington said.

The first time Stephens used the flip approach for a grammar lesson, that week's test scores were 13 to 15 percent higher in every class, she said.

The approach allows students to work at their own pace, reviewing one area until they understand it or quickly moving through a part they comprehend easily.

"I can't make a pace that's comfortable for everyone," without the iPad minis, Stephens said.

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